Langford mayor calls for campground cleanup

Residents wonder when Goldstream Park campground will reopen, but Langford Mayor Stew Young said cleanup should have been done already.

The campground remains closed with no word from the Ministry of Environment as to when it will reopen. The tent city group, Camp Namegans, settled in the campground for two weeks until their departure Oct. 2.

Since tent city set up in Goldstream Park it has cost Langford and the province money, he said, while the federal government has done nothing. Young said it’s the responsibility of the provincial governments across Canada to get homeless people the help they need and into the appropriate facilities.

“There’s no line item in a municipal budget for this,” he said.

Young pointed to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and Ministry of Social Development and Poverty, that have a combined budget of just over $3.8 billion, to be dealing with this problem.

Andrew Brown, a Langford resident near the campground, said the lack of communication by the Ministry of Environment makes residents suspicious.

“There’s something we’re not being told and there’s no reason for it,” he said.

Brown used to walk his dog in the park, but because access has been cut off at the trails, he now has to access them off the Trans Canada Highway.

“The main gain is locked off with four or five security guards which is a huge expense to the public with no benefit and it’s bloody inconvenient for us,” Brown said, noting the community is furious that the park is still closed. He has noticed many residents haven’t been out walking since convenient access to the park has been cut off.